7Gens - Black Hills Social Enterprise Network
Requested amount from Knight News Challenge:
$50,000Total cost of project including all sources of funding:
$50,000Expected amount of time to complete project:
1 year7Gens is a social enterprise offering affordable web design services to social entrepreneurs, green businesses and nonprofit organizations in our area. To further support socially conscious businesses and organizations, we plan to build a local (online and offline) network for green businesses and consumers.
Our website at www.7gens.com has the start of a network, with articles on green business and social enterprise and a forum for interaction between and among green businesses, social entrepreneurs and conscious consumers. We would like to enhance this community, in both its features and number of visitors, creating more interactive and dynamic content.
Growth of the online and offline network would be achieved by each of the following actions in support of the expansion of social enterprise in Western SD:
1) Invite existing green businesses in our area to join our network;
2) Work with the local Chamber of Commerce to establish a Social Enterprise Committee, whose purpose will be to support and nurture social entrepreneurs and green businesses in our area;
3) Establish (with the Committee) our definition of Social Enterprise and what we hope to accomplish as a group;
4) Facilitate monthly meetings of the Social Enterprise Committee and post meetings and local events on the website;
5) Provide consumer education on more socially and environmentally responsible local options for goods and services, helping to expand the market for current and future socially conscious businesses;
6) Offer a directory of green businesses to help connect them to conscious consumers. Eventually allow businesses to create profiles, blogs and more to promote themselves.
How will your project improve the way news and information are delivered to geographic communities?
Connecting green businesses and consumers in the Black Hills, SD
As someone who is committed to a healthier and more socially sustainable lifestyle, I have found it difficult to find local products and services from businesses that share my values. It's not that such businesses don't exist, for with some committed digging I have found some. The problem is that consumers don't have a way to find or access them.
National directories such as the National Green Pages and others rarely contain listings for South Dakota and no local directory or organization exists to support and promote small local socially responsible businesses.
7Gens will help to fill this need, while at the same time taking steps to assist in the growth of this critical sector of the economy. Our online network will give these businesses the opportunity to promote themselves and tell their stories to the general public. The forum and other interactive components will allow concerned consumers to review and share recommendations on local businesses and services. Articles posted to the website will also help to educate consumers and grow the market for green businesses' products and services.
All online efforts will also be mirrored in the community, with the website serving as a forum for individuals and businesses to find each other, set up and promote community and business meetings and more (limited only by the imagination of the community as it grows). The interactivity of the website will be critical to engaging and retaining individual and business members who will be the ones to build this online community.
1 commentHow is your idea innovative? (New or different from what already exists.)
Beyond a green business directory
In many states as well as cities large and small, you can find organizations dedicated to promoting and supporting green business. Most of these have a web presence, and many also provide a local green business directory. South Dakota does not count itself as among such states. Not only that, but most national directories list few, if any, green businesses in South Dakota.
Sioux Falls, the largest city of our state has recently launched a project whose mission is to create a green movement. Their website and newsletter aim to educate and inspire the community to live greener lifestyles. This site contains a simple forum for community interaction, but no extended profile ability, blogging or business directory. Rapid City, the second largest city and my home, has no such organization or project.
Unique not only in SD, I have not seen a website for supporting local green businesses that utilize Web 2.0 technologies. In extensive searching, I have found only four social network platforms dedicated to social enterprise and green business: www.greenity.net, www.justmeans.com, www.unltdworld.com and www.socialedge.org. Three of these appear to be relatively new sites based in the UK and have a global focus. All seem to target environmentalists, green business professionals and social entrepreneurs with a platform where they can network with each other. None are designed to foster interactivity between consumers and businesses (ratings, reviews, etc.).
Two sites, www.care2.com and http://www.gaia.com/community target individuals who care about making a difference. Some businesses may create profiles (in the way they do on Facebook or MySpace) in these communities, but their focus is not on bringing businesses and consumers together. Care2 contains an online shopping area but no local business directory. Gaia has a local business directory, but no SD businesses are listed. Co-op America has a National Green Pages directory, but only 2 SD businesses are listed.
I believe that if this works successfully on a local level it could be expanded in the future (with additional investors or other funding sources) into more communities across the region, and eventually the country or globally.
0 commentsWhat experience do you or your organization have to successfully develop this project?
Community networking and organizing
I have the experience and skills to reach out to green businesses and social entrepreneurs in our immediate region and bring them together. For nearly five years, I have worked as a Methamphetamine Prevention Coordinator for all of Western SD. In this capacity I started a local community-based coalition, which consists of a diverse group of professionals from different disciplines, among other tasks.
Under my leadership, this coalition has implemented several successful events and projects to educate the community on issues related to the abuse of Methamphetamine. Recently, we planned a 7-hour training for social service agency volunteers and staff that drew nearly 100 participants, and are currently working on a similar day-long seminar for real estate and property management professionals. We are expecting well over 100 professionals for this event as well.
Although shifting from Methamphetamine education to creating a network of socially conscious consumer and businesses may seem like a quantum leap, the skills required are generally the same. It's all about reaching out to diverse groups and individuals and bringing them together to focus on a specific issue and working to raise awareness and educate others on the topic.
My knowledge of the socially conscious business sector begins mostly as an aware consumer and shopper. I expect to continue to learn a lot more as I work first to bring green businesses together, and then to connect them to their customers. A large part of the process will also include educating the general public to build a greater market of potential customers for local green busineses. Considering my extensive experience in public speaking and training as well as in being a conscious consumer myself, this should be the easy part.
My husband brings the skills our business will need in web design and graphic design so we can build a platform to help bring local and regional businesses and consumers together. He has great natural talent, as well as technical skills in HTML, Joomla! open-source Content Management System (CMS), some coding and other skills needed to build a community-focused and community-driven website. He has run his own web design business for three years.
We get the kind of world we pay for when we vote with our dollars. When those dollars support sustainability and build our future, we can look forward to the world we will live in. I believe our plan can help our region take those steps needed to get us there, and we have what it takes to implement this plan. The only thing we need is enough money so I can walk away from my full-time salary (so I have enough time to dedicate fully to the business) plus some extra money as "seed money" to help with any expenses our business may incur as we work to bring it to a larger scale.
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